


Ache

by Big_Spicy_Garlean_Fucker



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Back Pain, Caretaking, FFxivWrite2020, Fluff, Implied male lactation, M/M, Overworking, Varis gets treated right, Workplace Relationship, complicated relationship dynamic, gentle dom Lucius, idk if this is mommy kink or something but uh, what a twist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:48:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26488951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Big_Spicy_Garlean_Fucker/pseuds/Big_Spicy_Garlean_Fucker
Summary: Varis has been working himself to the bone fighting a war on three fronts - civil war in Garlemald, resistance in the East, and whatever the unleavened fuck is going on in Gyr Abania.What luck it is that he has someone to remind him when his relentless overtime is doing more harm than good and that he really should eat something - shouldn't he? Doesn't he want to? Would he like it fed to him personally, with a happy ending too? He is an Emperor, after all. He deserves the world.Written for prompt #15 of FFXIVwrite2020.
Relationships: Varis zos Galvus/Lucius Batiatus, Varis zos Galvus/Original Male Character(s)
Kudos: 3
Collections: Final Fantasy Write Prompt Challenge 2020





	Ache

**Author's Note:**

> god I love Varis so much ;;

Varis aches. Moreso than usual after a hard day’s work sat at his huge marble desk the size of a war table with the fate of the world atop it. Piles of reports and statistics scream for his attention and not even his dutiful secretary can get through them all – they’ve got revolution in the northeast, insurgents gathering in Bozja, and half the bloody continent storming their holdings in Eorzea. And of course, the ungodly clusterfuck happening in Gyr Abania.

It was a terrible choice to ever let Zenos handle the invasion of Ala Mhigo, as his complete lack of care for the logistical side of things meant Varis was completely in the dark as to the situation over there. But the High Legatus had no-one left to trust, no-one savage enough, relentless, cruel. Regula was dead. Gaius was dead. Nael had been six fulms under a long time now and Valens sure as hell wasn’t going to win an intact province for him. He thinks of the arrogant new Legatus leading the VIIth and the pain behind his third eye sharpens, stabbing deep inside his brain.

_‘Let him stay in Werlyt and manage his weapons there. With any luck he’ll wait for my orders then march on the Dark and decimate whatever rabble’s set up in that damned hole. It’s probably the Alliance. Fucking--’_ Varis presses a hand to his brow, fingers poised in a triangle around his third eye. At once, his secretary looks up from where he’s been sorting out new reports from Dalmasca and frowns.

“Your Radiance. It’s about time we wrapped up for the day.” They’ve been working two hours overtime and it’s already seven in the evening. Neither of them have had dinner. Lucius hasn’t said a word but it’s all he’s been thinking of since lunch. “C’mon.” He puts his pen down in its holder and leans over. “Sir.”

“Nrgh. Bring me some coffee or something, I’ll be fine. Still haven’t… gotten through this. Van Varro’s writing is terrible.” Varis squints at the page he’s been looking at for the past fifteen minutes. He can’t actually make out any of the words even though they were legible when first he glanced across them to glean their importance. The page is promptly plucked from between his fingers and set on the stack nearby. He looks up to see Lucius terribly close, leaning over with his bright red eyes beaming into his face.

“You weren’t even reading it. Sir, you’re exhausted. Come and let’s go get something to eat, and we’ll see what else from there.” Lucius winces a little the longer he keeps reading Varis – he can feel his Emperor’s physical and mental strain so acutely that it sickens him inside. _‘How has he not collapsed yet?’_

Varis looks away. “Then what, a bath and sleep? I could be doing so much more – for our people, for—what else am I supposed to do?”

“Radiance, listen to me.” Lucius comes around the side of the desk and Varis’s tired eyes follow him, dark grey sclerae a foggy mess of bloodshot woe. “You’re not going to lose the war overnight if you rest a bit. You’re still useful, but you work much too hard. You are not your productivity, alright?”

“Then what am I?” Varis snaps, unable to look Lucius in the eye with his face turned away. “You call me _Radiance_ , the whole empire does and relies on me to keep it running. I have no time for **rest.** ” Even as he speaks, Lucius catches the thoughts he doesn’t.

_“Don’t you know how many years it’s been – decades – since anyone called me by name?”_

Lucius pauses. A few seconds pass, and Varis still isn’t looking at him. His hair hangs dead and stringy all knotted up in the crags of his pauldrons and his huge, broad shoulders are so stiff they barely move as he breathes. Lucius sighs softly as he comes around the back of the Emperor’s tall leather chair to his other side, where he reaches out and grasps Varis by the chin. Soft jowls squish between his fingers and Varis grunts quietly, looking a tad indignant but seemingly unable to process just what Lucius is doing. Lucius leans in and his hand slips to cradle Varis’s head against his chest, long fingers caressing the angles of his cheek and jaw. His other hand comes up to stroke his Emperor’s hair, careful not to let it snag.

“Varis…” It’s barely past his lips when he feels the response, hears it in the shuddering sigh and heavy groan caught deep in his Radiance’s chest. Varis shuts his eyes and nudges himself a little further into Lucius’s warmth, nestling within his secretary’s plush bosom already open two buttons down. Lucius shifts to accommodate him without smothering but it seems that’s what Varis wants, to have his senses narrowed to only pure, peaceful comfort with his third eye pressed into the meat of Lucius’s chest. Lucius smiles to himself, trailing gentle fingertips down the side of his Radiance’s worn face. “Shhh… there you are. It’s alright.”

The angle is fairly odd for him due to the sheer size and spikiness of Varis’s armour, but he knows it’ll be gone soon. “Let’s get you to bed, mm? I’ll have dinner delivered and a lovely massage for you, just like this…” His pointed nails scritch ever so lightly into Varis’s scalp in wide, circular motions just how he likes it. Varis groans quietly and mouths something into Lucius’s breast, wordless and serene. How quickly his mood changes with a little bit of love. Lucius can only gaze down at him and dream for the future they’ll share together – no matter how much work he has to do to get Varis to care for himself, it will be worth it. In the meantime, he is more than happy to show him how.

As Varis begins to suckle him through the thin fabric of his dress shirt, Lucius pulls away. “After dinner, love.” The transition from formal speech to intimate concern serves to shift Varis’s mindset from work to life. He does have a life to live, doesn’t he? Lush, lavish suites in which to rest and flowing finery to clothe his naked form. He follows Lucius blindly until he’s out of his chair and standing, unaware of the aethers working around him to energize his muscles and wick his aches and pains away.

“Come…” says Lucius while holding out his hand, hanging onto a gauntleted finger when Varis takes it. “There’s a good boy.”

Varis’s stern silver aethers and warm, goopy gold meld into pure pleasure, thrumming through his body tuned to Lucius’s every word. Sweet sayings of substance fill his mind on their trip down the hallway, praise and promises and now he aches for something different, which Lucius implies too.

_‘I’ll feed you anything you want… providing you still have room.’_ The gnawing in Varis’s stomach isn’t just hunger for food, after all. It’s a thick, all-consuming heat that has him rapidly shucking his armour the second they’re in his quarters while Lucius sends word to the staff. They’ve already got the usual evening feast made, more than used to his Radiance’s overtime habits. And they’re more than willing to serve if it means being able to spoil their hardworking Emperor and his dutiful consort too – at least that’s what they see Lucius as, considering the amount of times breakfast has been served to the pair of them together in bed. It’s all sorted within seconds and soon enough, Varis is laid up nicely with pillows propping his gargantuan form every which way, supporting his aching back and weary arms and Lucius definitely won’t let him feed himself tonight.

“You just relax.” Lucius purrs, running his hand down Varis’s bare chest and splaying gentle fingers on his stomach. “I’ll take care of you.”

Varis wonders if he should overwork himself more often.


End file.
